Update on Dawn: the most broken bear we’ve met in years

❤ Update on Dawn ❤ Since we shared the story of Dawn, one of the bears Animals Asia recently rescued from a notorious bear bile farming hotspot in Vietnam, we’ve been overwhelmed by your support and love for her. Our beautiful, broken girl has a long road ahead of her, but we know you’re rooting for her just as much as we are. So here is an update on how Dawn is doing today, and how our incredible team has been working round the clock to encourage her out of her shell. 🐻 Why is Dawn still in a cage? Dawn has spent over 20 years of her life, probably since she was born, in a tiny cage. Our first instinct as humans is to release caged animals into open, natural spaces, or at least put them into bigger more ’comfortable’ cages, but all the research, expertise and experience suggests this is in fact the worst thing we could do. Why? 1. Dawn is conditioned to her surroundings. If she were to suddenly be placed in anything different to what she is used to, she could have an adverse reaction and could be further traumatised. As sad as it is to think about, that cage was her whole world. And to move her into something bigger or different in any way, would in fact be more damaging. We introduce change in stages to the bears, and only when they’re ready. 2. Dawn’s carers need to build up her trust and confidence. This means we need to feed her by hand to incentivise behaviour (as Sarah explains in the video), give her medications, and introduce new foods. It also builds a bond between Dawn and her carers, we want to show her that we are her friends, and that she can trust us. 3. Quarantine is essential any time we bring an animal into an area with other animals to prevent cross-contamination. 4. Quarantine is only a short period of time. As soon as she is ready and we can make room for her at our current sanctuary, or we have structures at our new sanctuary that we can move her to, she will step onto fresh grass for the first time and have the freedom to play, forage and nap whenever she likes... for the rest of her life. #bear #moonbear #asiaticblackbear #bearrescue #animalrescue #wildliferescue #bearbilefarming #animalsanctuary #vet #veterinary #vetnurse #animalcare #animalwelfare #vietnam #team #recovery #rehabilitation